Loading...They say that Christmas only comes once a year, but for Ford owners you better make that twice.
Yes for one day a year thousands of giddy owners descend on Silverstone like children racing for a Christmas tree for what is the biggest Ford festival in Europe, Ford Fair.
This year was no different and on 12th August 2012 Silverstone once again came alive with the sound of tuned and standard Fords tearing round one of Britain’s most famous race tracks.
Driving into Silverstone you are instantly hit with the scale of this event as hordes of people walk around, closely inspecting some extremely well cherished cars.
After parking up at the Ford Owners Club plot where we were joined by a few others in their cars, a mix of Fiestas, Focuses and Focus STs, we set about exploring.
The atmosphere was electric with the sound of whistling turbos and the smell of fuel filling the air as we ambled about.
Two minutes’ walk away from our plot we stumbled across a stunt show, involving legendary father, son auto test duo Russ and Paul Swift.
They were taking a couple of the brand new Focus STs for a spin around a rather compact course with some lucky members of the public in the passenger seat.
It was spectacular to watch, these family sized cars dance through the course with such precision, a great way to show off the new car and leave everyone in the crowd craving one.
Walking through the rows of immaculately lined up cars you realise the true diversity of the cars you have gathered at Silverstone.
We saw anything from a Ford Anglia with a roll cage, to a Focus RS in Rally livery and a Ford Escort pick-up with nitrous injection to a Ford Street KA with an alien at the wheel (seeing really is believing).
Surprisingly, you don't have to own a Ford in order to bring your car into the event but do so at your own peril.
The attitude towards other brands was best summed up when a Tannoy announcement that someone needed to move their brown Renault Megane was met with cheers and jeers from the crowd.
It is easy to see why people want to try get any old car in as the joy of Ford Fair extends beyond the fields of Fords.
It is one of the few owners’ meets that lets you take your car, whatever it may be, on to the same track that just two months ago was home to the British Grand Prix.
And sure enough there was anything from the monstrous to the mundane taking to the tarmac.
Ford Fair really is a sight to behold.
Whether it is the cars lined up next to each other so neatly one could mistake it for a forecourt or the ability to get right up close to the perfectly kept, supercharged engine of an 80s Escort RS.
On the way out of the event you are left with the thought.
“Same time next year?”
